Mix 06: Aged to Perfection - 1994 Revisited (Part I)

Aged to Perfection is the first volume in a multipart series set to explore the musical environment of 1994. To help in this undertaking, friend and blog contributor Carl Beach has agreed to alternate weeks and mixes with me—giving you an overview of 1994 from two distinct perspectives.

Looking back on the 1990s, I find at least two exceptional years for music: 1991 and 1994. In 1991, college radio and alternative music crept into the mainstream and began its meteoric rise to cultural dominance. Grunge would destroy the already imploding bands of hair metal, while bands like U2 would help ignite a renaissance in musical experimentation. In the next couple of years, a plethora of new and exciting bands would debut, substituting formulaic stock with more original ingredients.

The scene would essentially peak in 1994. In that year, Kurt Cobain took his own life, placing a final exclamation mark on grunge—a genre marked by angst, despair and nihilism. But 1994 was also a year marked by exceptional albums, debuts and artistic triumphs. In the years to follow, radio and MTV would succumb to the sounds of recycled post-grunge, watered-down “alternative” and teen pop. But for a few years in the early 90s, the music scene was ripe with remarkable work.

Aged to Perfection is primarily rooted in classic rock—capturing the authenticity of spirt and the musical exploration first mined by veteran bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and The Rolling Stones. That bands like Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots and The Black Crowes would borrow heavily from these masters is simply a testament to the timeless appeal of the music generated in the late 60s and early 70s.

Hope you enjoy this first volume in our series. I’m not sure what Carl has planned for Volume Two, but I can tell you that Volume Three (tentatively titled Style and Substance) will be vastly different from this first entry. Stay tuned...

01. Vasoline • Stone Temple Pilots
02. A Conspiracy • The Black Crowes
03. Backwater • Meat Puppets
04. Struttin' • Primal Scream
05. What Do You Want From Me • Pink Floyd
06. Head Down • Soundgarden
07. Moon Is Up • The Rolling Stones
08. Send Me On My Way • Rusted Root
09. Friends • Page & Plant
10. Where Did You Sleep Last Night? • Nirvana

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Guest Mix 05: Synth Pop

As promised, this week's mix comes courtesy of Travis Dyer. Known as DJ Illustrious to his Charlottesville, Virginia, radio show listeners, Travis's musical tastes run the gamut. From hip hop to electronica, industrial to metal, Travis delivers the goods. His first contribution to this blog is a journey back into the sounds of 80s synth pop — a sound that a slew of contemporary bands (Killers, Dandy Warhols, MGMT, more) have successfully been revisiting. Eschewing more popular 80s gems, Travis dug a little deeper to give us a mix that doesn't sound nearly as dated as you might think (my horrible album cover doesn't give this collection much justice).

So, what is synth pop?

Synth Pop emerged during the early '80s, as a variation of New Wave. Where New Wave utilized guitar considerably, Synth Pop often pushed that traditional rock and roll instrument completely out of the picture and moved keyboards, drum machines, and samplers to the forefront. Synth Pop has its own stylistic tendencies which differentiate it from other music produced by the same means. These include the exploitation of artificiality (i.e., the synthesis of sounds from waveforms) where the synthesizers are not used to imitate acoustic instruments, the use of mechanical sounding rhythms, vocal arrangements as a counterpoint to the artificiality of the instruments.

Enjoy the mix!

1. Forever Young - Alphaville
2. The Great Commandment - Camouflage
3. Blasphemous Rumours - Depeche Mode
4. Save A Prayer - Duran Duran
5. Two Tribes - Frankie Goes to Hollywood
6. Everlasting Love - Howard Jones
7. Walking Away - Information Society
8. Never Ending Story - Kajagoogoo and Limahl
9. True Faith - New Order
10. Don't Go - Yaz

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